Study
Questions on The Awakening by
Kate Chopin

1. What features make The Awakening a
"local color" story? What customs
and beliefs of Edna Pontellier's society are
significant in relation to her psychological
development? What attitudes and tendencies in
the Creole characters does Edna have trouble
adjusting to?

2. Why did Edna marry Leonce? Is he a model
husband? What incidents reveal that he may
not be a good husband for Edna? How do her
reasons for marrying compare to those of
other characters we have studied who do or do
not marry?

3. How do Mlle. Reisz and Mme. Ratignolle
function in relation to Edna and the novel's
view of women as mothers and artists? What
kind of mother is Edna? What kind of artist
is she?

4. How are the background characters, such as
the young lovers and the lady in black at the
shore, significant in Edna's story?

5. How do the flashbacks to Edna's past
function? How does her father compare to the
other men in her life?

6. How does the view of romantic love develop
in the course of the novel? What is the
doctor's view of marriage and childbearing?

7. How do the emotional attachments and
romantic obsessions of other characters you
have studied compare to Ednas emotional
and romantic relationships?

8. What are the main images and symbols in
the novel? Pay attention to details
emphasized at the beginning and end and other
recurring objects.

9. How do the roles of birds compare in
A New England Nun, A White
Heron, Huckleberry Finn, and The
Awakening?

10. Why does Edna get involved with Alcee
Arobin?

11. How does this novel compare with other
stories on the subject of gaining
self-knowledge?

12. Why were critics outraged at this novel
in 1899, saying it committed
"unutterable crimes against polite
society" and it should be labeled
poison to protect moral
babes? Why has Edna been condemned by
more recent readers for her selfishness as
much as for her sensuality?

13. How does Ednas unconventional
behavior compare to Bartlebys (in
Melvilles story Bartleby the
Scrivener)? Do Edna and Bartleby have
anything in common?

14. What is your reaction to the end of the
novel? Do you agree or disagree with the
reasons for Edna's final action?

15. Why do you think the poet Walt Whitman
had such an important influence on Chopin?
How does her exploration of female sexuality
compare to his treatment of male sexuality?

16. How does Chopin's The Awakening compare to other
stories you have studied as a realistic work
of literature? Why did Per Seyerstead
(Chopin's editor) say the recognition her works
finally received in the twentieth century served to elevate her
from the status of a regional writer to a
pioneer realist?